Gladiator in Concert tour uses Adamson’s FletcherMachine

Gladiator in Concert tour uses Adamson's FletcherMachine

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Spatial audio and object-based rendering take centre arena on the Gladiator in Concert tour, using Adamson’s FletcherMachine

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Gladiator in Concert is a unique, live cine-concert experience celebrating Ridley Scott’s Oscar-winning film starring Russell Crowe. The experience involves an orchestral performance of the stirring soundtrack, scored by Hans Zimmer, by 80 on-stage musicians and 60 singers.

Adamson’s professional loudspeakers and spatial audio rendering system, FletcherMachine, helped to create a captivating spatial audio experience for this spectacular showcase.

Touring across Europe, with dates in Paris, Brussels and Geneva, Gladiator in Concert had originally been designed as a stereo PA production. The audio team had selected Adamson products from the outset thanks to the involvement of Lagoona, a trusted rental company with deep experience in recommending Adamson’s systems. However, the show’s front-of-house (FOH) engineer, Sylvain Denis, was intrigued by the idea of going beyond the traditional left-right-style configuration. Having previously worked with other spatial audio tools, he was familiar with the concept and had heard of FletcherMachine, but not yet had the opportunity to use it on tour.

Supporting the implementation was Adamson’s Sylvain Thevenard, head of R&D for FletcherMachine project. His role involved providing hands-on assistance to the production company and ensuring the spatial system could be deployed consistently across a variety of venue types.

A huge number of speakers in each array allows every element to stand out

“From the very beginning, the FOH engineer clearly wanted something more spatial and coherent than stereo,” says Thevenard. “He pushed to take a different approach, and that’s when we got involved with FletcherMachine. It quickly became clear that it could offer a much more impressive experience for the audience.”

The loudspeaker system itself was configured to support the spatial audio vision. The main sound system was composed of five arrays of ten S10s, suspended at the front of the stage and slightly above it to give the impression that the music was emanating directly from the on-stage performers.

This was supplemented by the use of four E119 and four E219 subwoofers for low-end cinematic support. The spatial audio illusion was reinforced with front fills of 13 S7 and two S7p cabinets, and two additional outfill arrays of six S7s, ensuring coverage that enveloped the audience, no matter where they sat in each venue.

“The goal was to make it feel like the sound was coming directly from the stage, not the loudspeakers,” explains Thevenard. “And in every venue of thousands of people, different-shaped buildings and different acoustics, the result was amazing. The coverage was consistent and the experience was natural. It sounded like the orchestra was right there in front of you, not coming out of boxes. The movie sounds felt like they came directly from the screen.”

At the heart of the experience was Adamson’s FletcherMachine, a spatial audio rendering engine capable of managing up to 128 individual audio objects to 128 speaker outputs. Unlike channel-based mixing systems, where sound is routed through fixed outputs, FletcherMachine uses object-based mixing. Each sound element, be it an instrument, section of the choir or sound effect, is treated as a unique object. These objects are positioned in a virtual sound field, and FletcherMachine calculates how to distribute each one across the loudspeaker system to match the desired spatial location.

Gladiator in Concert is bringing the film to fresh audiences, using FletcherMachine

“FletcherMachine offers a very accessible user experience for FOH mixers, allowing them to mix in sound objects rather than traditional stereo,” explains Denis.

“Thanks to these sound objects, the spatial mix remains coherent and is identical for all spectators, whatever their position in the room, which greatly reduces the problems associated with concert hall acoustics.

“It’s a different way of thinking about sound,” confirms Thevenard. “Every channel on the mixing desk becomes an object you can place wherever you want. The engine knows where all the loudspeakers are, and it does the maths to create that spatial effect using time and amplitude panning methods.”

FletcherMachine’s high object count meant the team could take full advantage of the complexity of the Gladiator score, by assigning nearly every element its own place in the mix – and it’s practical for touring. Despite its sophistication, FletcherMachine operates within a single piece of software that can run on a standard laptop, and it requires minimal training. 

“It’s easy to get to grips with,” adds Florian Siegwald, FletcherMachine operator on the tour. “The simplicity of the user interface makes it possible to react quickly to the placement of objects and adjustment of the mix, which is essential on a tour where balance time is very limited.”

With the spatial soundscape developed in FletcherMachine, as well as the excellent coverage achieved through use of Adamson’s S series loudspeakers, Gladiator in Concert exceeded the expectations of a traditional live sound experience. The spatial mix allowed for the celebration of each musical detail, and feedback from both audiences and engineers has been overwhelmingly positive.

To find out more, visit adamson.ai

This article was first published in the Jul/Aug 2025 issue of LIVE.